Guards say they didn’t realize inmate on bus was being murdered
CIRCLEVILLE — Twotime convicted killer Casey Pigge sat in the very back of the prison bus on Feb. 1, out of sight of the three state corrections officers sitting up front.
Just two days before, Pigge was wrapped in a straitjacket as he pleaded guilty to the February 2016 murder of his cellmate at the Lebanon Correctional Institute, Luther Wade of Springfield.
Pigge’s assault on Wade came after he was convicted of aggravated murder and a host of other charges after he slashed the throat of his ex-girlfriend’s mother, watched her die and then set her apartment on fire.
Yet aboard the prison bus, which transported 15 prisoners in a loop from Lucasville to Columbus to Ross County, Pigge sat behind the other inmates who were between him and the corrections officers. Despite handcuffs, leg irons and a belly chain, he was able to move freely at the back of the bus.
“The fact that he was left alone with access to other inmates is beyond me,” Ross County Prosecutor Matt Schmidt said a few days later. “I’m completely amazed this was allowed to happen.”
What happened was preventable, based on eyewitness accounts made by prisoners to the Ohio Highway Patrol and Pigge’s own statements to investigators, as well as the statements from the corrections officers on the bus. All are included in the case file reviewed by the Dayton Daily News after a public records request.
About 10 or 15 minutes into the ride, Pigge slipped off his 3-foot-long belly chain, moved up three rows and wrapped it around inmate David Johnson’s neck, the witnesses said. Pigge, 29, pulled so hard against the 61-year-old sex offender’s throat that Johnson was lifted off the seat.
When Johnson went limp, Pigge slammed his head against the bus wall, checked his pulse, choked him face to face and then smothered his mouth and nose until Johnson was dead, other inmates told investigators.
After the attack, they said, Pigge shook hands with the other inmates, introduced himself as “Box Cutter” and bragged, “This is the first time anyone has ever killed a (expletive) on a bus with his chains on” and “I guess you never seen that on a bus before.”
The murder on the bus raises questions about how the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction transports violent criminals to court appearances, medical appointments and other prisons, which occurs regularly.
The three guards — Ted Hammonds, Grover Riggs and William Saltsman — told investigators they never heard or saw a thing. When unloading the bus, guards thought Johnson had fallen asleep. Troopers didn’t learn about the killing until two hours after the bus was stopped.
By then, Pigge was on another bus headed to Lucasville. Troopers had to stop that bus to get Pigge and confiscate his clothes and chains as evidence.
Prisons spokeswoman JoEllen Smith said the department finished a “global review” of the transportation policy on Feb. 21 and DRC Director Gary Mohr signed off on changes. Prison officials are still working to put the recommended changes into action, she said.
“The specific details of that review will not be released for reasons of security and public safety. Our internal investigation will be completed once the criminal investigation concludes,” Smith said in a statement.
Pigge pleaded not guilty to an aggravated murder charge in the death of Johnson, who was serving an eight-year sentence for sexual battery. According to the case file, Pigge told troopers: “I did kill him.”